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France defends flu vaccine surplus

The French government fought off criticism that it had poorly planned its swine flu vaccine program after it bought more doses than needed and announced plans to sell surplus stock.

France bought 94 million doses of the vaccines for the A(H1N1) virus, expecting to provide its population with two doses each, but only five million people have been vaccinated and one dose has been found to be sufficient.

"What would people be saying if the pandemic had been serious?" said Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, a trained medical doctor, after several opposition politicians took a swipe at the government.

"We are very happy that this virus turned out to be less virulent than we thought," he said.

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The minister cautioned that winter was not yet over and that there could still be a spike in illnesses that would prompt more people to turn up for their shot.

Qatar has bought 300,000 doses and Egypt is negotiating to buy two million, according to the health ministry. France is also in discussions with Mexico and Ukraine to buy some of its stock.

Socialist opposition spokesman Benoit Hamon said the government had provided pharmaceutical companies with a boon and that it was waging a campaign of "fear mongering" to try to liquidate the vaccine stock.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's government is trying to justify the fact that it "paid one billion euros to pharmaceutical companies who are the big winners in this entire affair," said Hamon.

Swine flu has killed at least 12,220 people worldwide with the biggest share of victims in the United States and Canada, though it is now declining in North America, according to the World Health Organisation.

A total of 198 people - including 24 children under the age of 15 - have died from the virus in France and its overseas departments, according to health authorities.